Carrying A Gun

Carrying A Gun
by Cpl. Paul Scanlan

This is a story of my brothers and I. All we have experienced together…its something that I wrote as a story and slowly became a poem. Many people think they know what war is like, but until they’ve actually been there, they’ll never truly know what we Warriors endured. Semper Fi!

Paul

Carrying a Gun

On February 3, 2003
We arrive in the desert,
Away home from family.

Most of us young men
and some of us were old,
All of us ready to fight
Standing strong and bold.

March 19th came swift,
Thats when we began the fight,
The ground war was finally declared,
as we crossed the borders late that night.

We carried our Guns to battle
and always kept them clean
We were all experts with weapons,
Then again we’re all Marines.

We were a few miles in
before reality struck,
When an RPG
Hit our 7-ton truck.

We picked up our guns and grabbed our ammo and rushed straight through to the front-lines, All of us alert but scared to the bone, and never-the-less we charged in to fight.

From dusk til dawn battle was long
but when it was over and done,
we’d look to our brothers to the left and the right, and pick up all our guns.

The people of our country
Who preach so much of “Rights”
Would call us murderers and killers
But they’re not in the fight

However, enjoy your freedoms
My brothers paid for in blood,
because that is what we fight for,
Thats why we carry guns.

We hope that you live happy,
We pray your life is fun…
Because of us you’ll never know,
What its like carrying a gun.

Cpl. Paul Scanlan
3/4 Lima Co. and 4th Rifle Platoon, Security Co.
2001-2005